Constitutional Christianity

When we ask ourselves whether the founding fathers of the United States of America were Christian, it is interesting to consider the text of the First Amendment of our Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It appears that having an awareness of the interaction between the church and state in Europe at the time, where almost all countries had their own state authorized churches, and seeing some of the early religious conflicts in the colonies, the authors of the U.S. Constitution were aware of the problems for both theology and practice that involving the civil government in matters of faith presented.

And so, far from establishing the state as a secularized body, or an advocate for amorality or atheism, the founders described six protections from abuse with the intent of protecting our diverse Christian heritage from being abused by the state.

First, our government is not permitted to determine the validity or authorize the creation of any religion or church. Throughout Europe the state churches had established and accepted catechisms, dogmas, and traditions, which resulted in their being civil consequences for heresy and dissension. The founders of our country wanted to ensure that our government would stay out of determinations regarding the doctrine, definitions, and structures of our churches. This leaves church as an avenue to check the moral authority of civil law and advocate for it change.

Second, our government is not permitted to interfere in, regulate, prevent, or endorse any individual religious tradition, practice, or experience. This follows as obvious from the first protection, if the government is not permitted to define religion, they obviously cannot define religious experience except when it is in clear violation of the common morality of established law.

Third, our government is not permitted to forbid, prevent, or regulate what is said from our pulpits, shared by our believers, or taught by our adherents. A free market for theology, ideology, and all manner of philosophy was seen as a key to preserving the long term moral well being and development because free markets lend themselves to evolution more readily than heavily institutionalized systems of law.

Fourth, our government is not permitted to forbid, prevent, or regulate what is published in any medium. Once again trusting in the free market of ideas, the founding fathers believed that cream rises to the top and so the healthy and living churches would succeed and other might fail, but none would ever be forced upon the citizenry as the only politically correct view, position, or message.

Fifth, our government is not permitted to determine, prevent, or regulate any worship service, assembly, bible study, or gathering of believers regardless of political persuasion or religious belief so long as there is no violence involved in the group activity. What is interesting about this is that the American revolution in many ways was started from the pulpits of our churches, so perhaps this is the ironic outcome with the founding fathers attempting to prevent a similar revolution from occurring in the future.

And lastly, our government is not permitted to interfere with, prevent, or regulate the church, congregations, or individual believers bringing moral objections against the state or leading and participating in social reform. Having seen the corruption that arose from entwining the church and state, the founding fathers intended that the church remain beyond the control of the state so that it could be the vehicle whereby the state was perpetually held to a higher standard to improve the quality of life of its citizenry and stay true to the ideals of goodness, morality, peace, freedom, and prosperity on which is was founded.

So, for what it is worth, I think that the founding fathers obeyed to the best of their ability Jesus' command,

"You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Matthew 20:25-28